expressing personal regret, sorrow or shame politely

[aprose1977]

What is the most natural way of expressing sorrow regret or shame (in  a polite sense)?  

 

e.g. Not just I'm sorry that I don't speak Chinese, but something more like I'm so ashamed that my Chinese isn't good enough.  

 

[somethingfunny]

丢脸／丢人？

[889]

Of course this depends entirely on context. But let's say you're ethnic Chinese, a Huaqiao, and feel you need to preface your awkward Chinese with something. Then colloquially I think I'd just lead off with something like, "真不好意思！ 我 . . ."

[abcdefg]

If the OP is seeking a phrase which is stronger than 不好意思, something along these lines would convey that:

 

我非常遗憾我的国语那么差了。

[Kenny同志]

 I'm so ashamed that my Chinese isn't good enough.  

 

 

You can say 真是慚愧，我國語說得不好。

[aprose1977]

Thanks for these.  They are very helpful. 

[abcdefg]

What's the context?

[Demonic_Duck]

非常遗憾 doesn't really work. Too formal for interpersonal interaction. It'd be more like what someone in a service industry would say to a customer (on behalf of their company or organization) when informing them of a situation that will inconvenience them.

[陳德聰]

I might say 非常遺憾 if someone died

[may4thbewithu]

you can say "我汉语不太好，见笑。"